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Father Threatens to Kill Daughters' Bullies

This clip may sound like it's straight from Jerry Springer, but it took place on a Florida school bus. 42-year-old James Jones, who is out of jail on bond, boarded the bus and started ranting and threatening to kill the child passengers. This after his daughter, who has cerebral palsy, told him classmates at her Greenwood Lakes Middle School were harassing her.

The kids weren't just calling Jones' daughter names -- they put an open condom on her head, smacked her on the back of her head, twisted her ear, and shouted rude comments to her. A deputy's report claims Jones complained to the school, but nothing was done, and that although there were two adults on the bus to supervise the kids, but they didn't speak English. Jones has since apologized, saying, "My daughter is not going to be hazed and beat up. I am very sorry."

According to psychologist and bullying expert Susan Lipkins, it never works to take matters into your own hands. "What really happens is it backfires and it's worse for the child. There was the bus driver, there were the other people on the bus and the school system, and you really have to use those formats in order to get something done. You really have to protect the child and teach them how to not be a victim; the second thing is not even to put them on the bus if it's an unsafe place, and third is to make enough noise that it goes up the chain of command to the superintendent or whoever in charge to say, ‘Hey -- my child is being harassed or hurt and this is violent behavior that cannot exist in the school behavior,’" she told The Today Show.

This clip may sound like it's straight from Jerry Springer, but it took place on a Florida school bus. 42-year-old James Jones, who is out of jail on bond, boarded the bus and started ranting and threatening to kill the child passengers. This after his daughter, who has cerebral palsy, told him classmates at her Greenwood Lakes Middle School were harassing her.

The kids weren't just calling Jones' daughter names -- they put an open condom on her head, smacked her on the back of her head, twisted her ear, and shouted rude comments to her. A deputy's report claims Jones complained to the school, but nothing was done, and that although there were two adults on the bus to supervise the kids, but they didn't speak English. Jones has since apologized, saying, "My daughter is not going to be hazed and beat up. I am very sorry."

According to psychologist and bullying expert Susan Lipkins, it never works to take matters into your own hands. "What really happens is it backfires and it's worse for the child. There was the bus driver, there were the other people on the bus and the school system, and you really have to use those formats in order to get something done. You really have to protect the child and teach them how to not be a victim; the second thing is not even to put them on the bus if it's an unsafe place, and third is to make enough noise that it goes up the chain of command to the superintendent or whoever in charge to say, ‘Hey -- my child is being harassed or hurt and this is violent behavior that cannot exist in the school behavior,’" she told The Today Show.

We’d love to hear what you think. What’s worse: letting bullying continue, or losing your cool (in a major way) with the bullies themselves? Have you even tried to go through the proper channel to prevent bullying and been stymied?